Justice (A Science Fiction / Fantasy Romance)

by Fall, Carly

  “So you believe me?” she asked, her voice so hopeful he had to smile.

  He would not show his cards quite yet. “I think I need more details before I can give you an affirmative on that one.”

  She nodded, and he noted the look of hope and eagerness that crossed her face. She wanted so badly to satisfy him, and he would like nothing more than to help her.

  He listened as she went over the story again, this time adding far more detail, such as the time of day, why she and her brother had fought, and her feelings throughout the whole ordeal. Anger rose within him as she described her fear of being grabbed when she first walked it the door.

  “I was terrified,” she said. “I felt paralyzed—like he had some control over my body or something.”

  “What did he look like?”

  “Crazy. He looked terrifyingly crazy. Black hair, blue eyes. Average height, probably about five-foot-eight or five-foot-ten. White guy with super crooked teeth, but they were really white.”

  He nodded, his unease growing. The tension in his body morphed and expanded, and he realized he’d tensed up every muscle. “Anything else?”

  “I’m sure this is the fear talking, but I felt like I was staring into the face of pure evil.”

  Uh-oh.

  “Can you think about what he said to you?” he asked, shifting in his seat.

  “Yes. He kept talking about my conscience, something that he said he didn’t have. He told me that his master would be very pleased with his actions, and that he liked that he had hurt me without touching me because my guilt would eat me up from the inside while my body rotted away in jail.”

  “If he didn’t touch you, what happened to your face?”

  She brought her hand to her cheek. “I picked up the knife and tried to stab him, but he threw me into the wall.”

  Justice swallowed hard. He’d heard a little bit about the Colonist offspring, and this man seemed to fit the profile.

  Shit.

  “Anything else?” he asked.

  She studied the table between them for a moment, and then shook her head. “Not that I can think of.”

  He nodded, wondering what his next step should be. He needed time to think, to come up with a plan of action. “Where do you live?”

  She gave him the address, and he committed it to memory.

  He stood. “It’s late. I think it would be a bad idea for either of us to drive anywhere.”

  She gazed up at him. “I don’t have anywhere to go. That’s why I came here.”

  An overwhelming feeling to protect her at her most vulnerable time overcame him. Even if he wanted to head back to the silo, he couldn’t leave her alone in the bunker.

  “We’ll stay here tonight,” he announced.

  Uncertainty crossed her face, and he realized he had to shut down any objections before they began. “I’ll touch base with headquarters and tell them I need to stay because of inventory. They’ll never know you were here.”

  She glanced around at the closed doors, and he realized his crew had occupied most of them. No matter where he put her, she would see that someone had recently been there. He needed to sanitize the room as best he could and hope she would be too tired to give it much thought.

  “You look exhausted,” he murmured. “Let me set up a room for you. Ten minutes, tops.”

  She gave him a sad smile, then nodded. “Thank you.”

  He walked over to Macy’s room, figuring as a female, she would have cleaner sheets than any of the other males, except maybe Roman.

  Opening the door, he switched on the light and glanced around. Macy tended to be neat, and he appreciated it as he quickly changed the pillowcase and pulled her clothes down from the locker, stuffing them behind it.

  Glancing around, he couldn’t find any signs of Macy. Satisfied, he opened the door. “Here you go.”

  Holly turned and looked at him. She rose from the chair and walked over. As they stood together in the doorway, he found the space seemed to be getting smaller, or his lungs became tight. Why did this female have such an effect on him?

  She stood next to him, taking in the small room with the bed cut out of rock, a thin mattress thrown on top of it. He felt she deserved better, but he couldn’t give her anymore.

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” he murmured and moved out of the doorframe.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, grasping his forearm. “Thank you for believing me and for helping me.”

  She wouldn’t meet his gaze, and he felt thankful for that. If she had looked up at him with those big blue eyes, he might have been tempted to kiss her full mouth or touch her milky skin. He reminded himself that she didn’t know anything about him, even if he felt he knew everything about her.

  As he stared at her pale fingers against his dark chocolate arm, he became entranced at the differences.

  Black and white. Human and SR44ian.

  Suddenly, the confusion within him boiled, and he pulled away.

  “Have a good night,” he said, giving her hand a quick squeeze. “We’ll talk more in the morning.”

  Chapter 21

  Holly shut the door and Justice began to pace around the big room, trying to walk quietly. His footsteps could echo in the cavern, and he didn’t want to disturb Holly.

  He recalled his talks with the Saviors about the Colonists and their offspring. He felt certain that the male who had put Holly in this position had been one or the other.

  However, the fact that the man referred to someone as his ‘master’ led him to believe the male had been a Colonist offspring. A Colonist calling someone else master simply didn’t make a lick of sense. It went against every fiber of their evil makeup.

  So, if the man had indeed been a Colonist offspring, they had a lead to the Colonist—if they could find the male.

  Holly had said she thought he lived in her apartment building. If he stuck around after his little game with Holly, he shouldn’t be too hard to find. The fact that he’d heard the argument between Holly and Billy meant he lived close.

  The first thing he needed to do would be to get a hold of Noah tomorrow, and he wished he’d kept the cell phone Blake had offered him on the way out. If he had, he could be discussing things with the male right now.

  Cursing, he sighed. He’d have to head back to the silo in the morning and tell Noah of this latest development.

  He entered his quarters and decided to sleep with the door open in case Holly needed him. After pulling off his t-shirt, he folded it up and set it at the foot of his bed. Sitting down, he kicked off his boots, then laid down, lacing his fingers behind his head.

  He had to tread very carefully with Holly. She could never find out he was from a different world; never realize that he knew so much about her; that he’d been living in the bunker for two years.

  Speaking of which … he rolled off the bed and got to his feet, realizing he’d never locked the gate at the top of the hallway entrance, and he should double check and verify that the door to the room where they grew their crops and where the computers sat was also locked. It would be hard to explain to Holly how the plants had grown without anyone living here.

  He quickly made his rounds and settled back into bed. As he slid into sleep, Holly’s light blue eyes danced in front of him, pleading for his help, begging him to understand her predicament.

  Tomorrow, he would approach Noah about helping Holly.

  Chapter 22

  The next morning, Justice left at the crack of dawn. As he drove through the desert, he caught glimpses of the coyotes making their way to their dens for the day, and soon, the day creatures, such as the snakes and lizards, would emerge to soak up the sun.

  He hadn’t slept well, and found himself a little cranky. He’d kept his contacts in last night in case Holly needed him as he didn’t want her to see his glowing eyes. Visions of Holly filled his dreams, her terrified blue eyes waking him more than once. He rose this morning firmly resolved that he would find the person who h
ad killed Holly’s brother and kill him.

  It was as simple as that.

  He wouldn’t lie to himself regarding his attraction to Holly. If he really thought about it, he’d been attracted to her for quite a long time, probably since the first time she’d barged through the front door of the bunker and started talking.

  He and his crew had watched her on the computer monitor in tense silence while Justice ran through the scenarios of what would happen if she unlocked the gate and walked down the hallway to where they lived. In his mind, he only came up with one answer—they’d have to kill her.

  The thought hadn’t sat well in his mind as he’d watched her check the cabinets, since he considered himself a moral male with a strict code of ethics. He didn’t kill unless absolutely necessary, and if she opened that gate and found them and they let her leave, they’d basically have invited in the US Army. No, he didn’t want to tango with them.

  “I talk when I get nervous,” she had said. “And frankly, getting assigned to check out these old bunkers pretty much freaks me out. So if there’s anyone down there, you stay there, I’ll stay up here, and we’ll remain friends, okay?” she had said.

  He couldn’t help but chuckle back then. The chances of anyone actually being in the bunker had been almost non-existent, but there they’d stood, Justice and his crew, watching her on the monitor while she checked the cabinets.

  The tension had grown within Justice as she’d approached the chain link fence and tugged on the lock. He hadn’t want to kill her, but if he’d needed to, he would have.

  “I’m going to go now,” she’d called. “I’ll see you next week.”

  A collective sigh of relief had gone through the group as the door had shut.

  After a few weeks, it became apparent that she couldn’t get in through the gate—she only tugged on the lock, but never produced a key.

  When he felt certain for his safety and that of his crew, he began to look forward to her visits, as well as her incessant chatter.

  He maneuvered the car onto the main highway as he headed for the missile silo where the Saviors lived, determined more than ever that he would help Holly.

  Chapter 23

  Holly woke, her shoulder stiff and her cheek sore. Moaning, she rolled over into a sitting position and gently touched her face, finding it tender. She supposed that’s what happened when one had been slammed face first into a wall.

  As she stood, her head throbbed a little bit as she pulled on her pants. Considering she’d slept underground, on a bed made of rock and a thin mattress, she found herself surprised by how rested she felt.

  Running her fingers through her hair, she sighed. The guilt still ate at her, and tears stung at the thought of her brother’s murder. A sob escaped her throat and she angrily brushed aside the tears tracking down her cheeks. She would mourn him later, but right now, she needed to get busy and clear her name and find her brother’s killer.

  Last night, a thought had niggled at her—what if when she found him, she didn’t turn him over to the police? What if she took him out in the middle of the desert and just shot the bastard herself? Would she have the stomach to kill another human being?

  She didn’t know. However, the thought of a long, drawn-out trial made her sick to her stomach. She couldn’t imagine sitting through days, possibly weeks, of testimony, of people coming forward to vouch for the son of a bitch. She’d never been one for violence, but maybe in this case, an eye for an eye would be justice. Besides, with the way he talked about his ‘master,’ he’d probably just end up in a mental institution anyway. She couldn’t find it in her heart to see that as a fitting punishment for what he’d done. He deserved death.

  She opened the door and walked out into the main room. An MRE sat on the table, along with a note. She picked it up.

  Enjoy breakfast. I’ll be back shortly, and we’ll figure out our plan of action. Justice.

  As she ate the bread and cheese spread, she looked around the place. The silence seemed almost deafening, but she didn’t feel the need to talk to break it. In fact, she found it somewhat comforting.

  Never in a million years would she have guessed that she would ever be in one of these bunkers. She tried to imagine the people who would inhabit this place if needed. Politicians or people with a bunch of money, she guessed. People who someone in society deemed important. With the stock of MREs, she considered how long people could survive down here.

  She glanced over at the door she’d noticed the night before and wondered where it led. Hell, she had ventured this far into the bunker, she might as well see the whole thing.

  Standing, she padded over to the door, her feet cool on the concrete. She tried to turn the knob, but found it locked. Maybe Justice had a key?

  She returned to the table.

  Justice sure hadn’t revealed much of himself to her last night, but then again, she’d kind of taken up the spotlight with her news. Her heart felt light with gratitude that he’d agreed to help her, and wondered where he’d gone this morning. She read the note over again and didn’t find any indication.

  And why had he told her to call him Justice? She wondered what his first name could be. She’d been certain he’d introduced himself as Lieutenant Justice, so maybe he’d been in the military for so long that he just went by his last name. Or maybe he just hated his first name. In the long run, did any of it matter?

  Sighing, she supposed she’d just sit tight until he got back. Maybe he’d gone to talk to his superiors. The thought made her nervous because she knew the right thing to do would be to turn herself in and try to convince someone that she told the truth. She hoped Justice hadn’t gone to talk to his boss because anyone with even a mediocre sense of right and wrong would think exactly that.

  It occurred to her to get in her car and run again. But to where? She’d be in the exact same position as she’d been in yesterday.

  No, she’d stay and put her trust in Justice.

  “Don’t let me down,” she said into the empty space, her own voice startling her as it broke through the silence.

  She finished her MRE and grimaced, wishing she had a big steak and a pile of mashed potatoes instead because these things were nasty.

  Chapter 24

  Justice got out of the car and approached the metal stairs leading up to the door of the missile silo. He then realized he had no way to get in as he remembered the Saviors punched in a code on the keypad he now stared at.

  The door opened, and Abby stood on the other side. She grinned, her hands protectively resting on the slight bulge of her belly. “Hi Justice. We were just getting ready to send out a search party.”

  “Hi, Abby. Sorry about that. I got caught up in something.”

  “You should have called,” she chastised.

  “Yeah … well, I forgot a phone.”

  “Come on in and get something to eat.”

  “Thanks, but I really need to speak to Noah first.”

  She stepped aside, and he walked in. Up a couple more stairs, then down a few, and he strode into the kitchen where Beverly tried to calm her son, Killian, and Faith and Liberty bustled around the space.

  “He’s in the War Room,” Abby said.

  “Thanks,” he called over his shoulder as he made his way down the hall.

  He pushed open the glass door and Noah looked up from the papers scattered in front of him. Once the door shut, Killian’s cries muted somewhat.

  “What’s up, man?” Noah asked. “Where you been?”

  “I need some help,” Justice said, taking a seat at the big, glass table.

  Noah set down a piece of paper and stared at him. “What happened?”

  Taking a deep breath, he started. “I went back to the bunker.”

  “How come?”

  “I’m just not used to being around a lot of people and I needed some time alone in a quiet place.”

  Justice turned to see Killian running down the hall, screaming at the top of his lungs. Hudson foll
owed and grabbed him, which only made Killian cry harder.

  “Yeah, it can get pretty loud around here sometimes,” Noah mumbled.

  He stared as Hudson tried to calm the wiggling, screaming boy. Kids really didn’t look like much fun.

  “Anyway, when I got there, Holly was also there.”

  Noah’s eyebrows arched. “Really?”

  “Yes. She’d slept on the floor in the entrance area covered in blood.”

  Noah shut his eyes and rolled his neck. “And?”

  “I took her down to the main living area and we talked.”

  After a brief pause, Noah spoke. “So what are you going to do when she lets her superiors know that she went down there?”

  “She won’t. Besides, she thinks I’m her superior, remember?”

  “Why don’t you think she won’t talk to others at her job?”

  “Because she’s in trouble, and we need to help her.”

  Noah stood up and began to pace the room. “What kind of trouble? Although, I’m not even sure I want to know …”

  “Her brother was murdered and the killer framed her.”

  Noah stopped behind the high-back, black leather chair, placing his hands on it. “Justice, why the fuck did you agree to help her?”

  Taken aback by Noah’s response, Justice stared at him for a moment. “Because that’s what an honorable, decent male would do.”

  Noah glared at him, his nostrils flaring. “Let me make myself clear, Justice. Don’t you ever question my honor. Ever. Are we clear?”

  He’d apparently pressed a little too hard with Noah. “Yes.”

  “Good. Now listen up because I’m only saying this once. Holly’s problems aren’t part of my circus.” He pointed at the papers in front of, all detailing deaths from around the world. “That’s part of it, and so is that.”

  As he pointed toward the door, Killian came running down the hall again, this time giggling uncontrollably with Hudson on his heels.